C2600....

[ejr1953]

Originally Posted by Timobi

Hey guys...I am a fairly new owner of a C47. Along with a MC452 and GoldenEar Triton 1's. Got some other stuff as well. Sony HAP 1-ZES HDD Music player; VPI Classic Sig TT with Cadenza Blue MC; an AVR for home theater stuff. All purchased within the past 8 months or so. The c47 and MC452 for about 5 months.

Sounds wonderful. Kind of have an upgrade itch and curious about the c2600. Thoughts? What would this tube preamp do to my setup? Never owned anything tube related. My Dad did way back in the day. Listening habits are well rounded. Less true Rock tho. Love the 70's stuff with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. Fleetwood Mac. Old stuff brought back to life with hi rez downloads and vinyl releases.

Gosh I have a ton of film scores. Love classical. And yet have discovered some jammin blues and jazz. LOL did I leave anything out? McIntosh has an upgrade-trade up program.

Really would like some thoughts from you seasoned McIntosh owners...Thanks in advance.

-Tim

I upgraded from a McIntosh C50 (solid state) pre amp, to a C2500 (tube) unit, driving my MC452 power amp, after several of my audiophile friends thought I'd enjoy the "tube sound" more.

I immediately found that well-recorded acoustic pianos and violins sounded more "realistic" and more "musical".

Once I had about 200 hours on the C2500, there was no going back to the C50, which is an excellent pre amp.

I use an external DAC, so the DAC built into the pre amps would not be a selling point for me. But the C2600 has a newer generation ESS DAC chipset, so if anything, should be a bit better than the C2500.

In either case, I think that the McIntosh tube pre amp is a great match for the MC452. One of my audiophile buddies said that all the McIntosh employees he knows, who do not have an integrated amp at home, have tube pre amps!

[Timobi]

Originally Posted by ejr1953

I upgraded from a McIntosh C50 (solid state) pre amp, to a C2500 (tube) unit, driving my MC452 power amp, after several of my audiophile friends thought I'd enjoy the "tube sound" more.

I immediately found that well-recorded acoustic pianos and violins sounded more "realistic" and more "musical".

Once I had about 200 hours on the C2500, there was no going back to the C50, which is an excellent pre amp.

I use an external DAC, so the DAC built into the pre amps would not be a selling point for me. But the C2600 has a newer generation ESS DAC chipset, so if anything, should be a bit better than the C2500.

In either case, I think that the McIntosh tube pre amp is a great match for the MC452. One of my audiophile buddies said that all the McIntosh employees he knows, who do not have an integrated amp at home, have tube pre amps!

Thx..appreciate you sharing your thoughts. My vinyl collection is growing lately. So theres quite a bit of analogue stuff. At times my system with those ribbon tweeters can be a bit bright. I'm thinking the c2600 would smooth that out. You know I really didnt know how much a role a tube or SS preamp would play.

Looking forward to testing one out. Thx again for sharing your impressions.

[Volks]

Good review-enjoyed it.

[tractng]

Can somebody confirm that during HT Bypass the meter light on both the C2600 and MC452 can be turnoff manually or by control?

Right now I have the MC452 (coupled with a Parasound preamp) which I can turn meter light off manually when I am watching a movie. I remember reading somewhere that stated if the C2600 gets a trigger from an AVR, the meter light won't turn on with the C2600 (and also MC452).

[Paret]

Originally Posted by tractng

Can somebody confirm that during HT Bypass the meter light on both the C2600 and MC452 can be turnoff manually or by control?

Right now I have the MC452 (coupled with a Parasound preamp) which I can turn meter light off manually when I am watching a movie. I remember reading somewhere that stated if the C2600 gets a trigger from an AVR, the meter light won't turn on with the C2600 (and also MC452).

Hi.

I have an MX151 feeding Passthru my C2600 into the MC452 for the front two and a MC205 for the rest and you can select if you want to trigger your meter lights on or off via the user menu and manually turn them on-off also. I keep the meter lights off for HT. For 2ch. I use my C2600 with meters on.

If your AVR allows trigger control you should be able to do the same.

[tractng]

Originally Posted by Paret

Hi.

I have an MX151 feeding Passthru my C2600 into the MC452 for the front two and a MC205 for the rest and you can select if you want to trigger your meter lights on or off via the user menu and manually turn them on-off also. I keep the meter lights off for HT. For 2ch. I use my C2600 with meters on.

If your AVR allows trigger control you should be able to do the same.

Thanks. My Yamaha Aventage 2040 has a trigger out signal.

[wonderboy]

Originally Posted by Timobi

One more thing; I was strongly considering using the McIntosh Upgrade program and trading in my fairly new c47 for the c2600. But if the c2600 has the same USB limitations then I'm not going to trade 'up'.

The Sony HAP just updated the USB firmware but I purchased it knowing full well that it only had unbalanced/balanced connections. But the c47 and c2600 tout all this USB decoding from 192 to 384 and DSD blah blah.

Hello...

I have C2600 and Sony Hap... This evening, I connected HDD to C2600 via USB cable and the result was the same as yours.

So I connected my pc to C2600 via a such cheap USB cable that I got from a external cd drive and played the same files with Sony HDD. The sound improvement is day and night difference. C2600's DAC is way better than Sony...obviously. I hear more and tight bass and overall volume is bigger and bright.

And then I connected CDP to C2600 via a coaxial cable, before it was by XLR. This connection also improved the sound a bit, but not by big margin like a previous experiment.

Now I don't know what to do with $2,000 DAC + digital storage 😫.

Tomorrow I am gonna get a decent USB cable and try again...

[Crazeehorse]

Would the C2600 go well with a MC302? I just entered the McIntosh owners club so I'm now saving for the preamp. I was leaning towards a used c2500 or C50.

[JWJW]

Originally Posted by Crazeehorse

Would the C2600 go well with a MC302? I just entered the McIntosh owners club so I'm now saving for the preamp. I was leaning towards a used c2500 or C50.

U bet they do. Beautiful tube/solid state combo. I owned a C50, and prefer the C2600. My vote....go for a used C2500, or save your cash for a C2600.

[tjarmstrong]

I am considering upgrading my C2500. Talking to Paragon Site & Sound the other day, they mentioned the C2600 shares circuitry improvements with the C1100 and is sonically better than the C2500 (not considering the DACs).